We are a service organization dedicated to benefit our member school societies by providing organizational, administrative, and educational resource assistance.
Our member schools are located in Attercliffe, Chatham, Etobicoke, Fergus, Guelph, Hamilton, Komoka, Millgrove, Mount Hope, London, Ottawa, Orangeville, Owen Sound, Smithville, and Woodbridge. Membership currently includes 14 elementary schools and 3 secondary schools. These schools range in size from 21 students to just over 400, and their combined enrolment is over 2,500 students.
While the range of institutional sizes among our members can make the service needs diverse, what these schools hold in common is the desire to assist parents in Reformed church communities respond to their baptismal vows also in their children’s formal education. God’s infallible Word as confessed in the Three Forms of Unity and professed in the Canadian Reformed Churches is the basis of our organization.
We publish and distribute educational curricula, studies, and reports for our members. We promote teaching as a career as well as the professional development of teachers and school administrators. Additionally, we want to help Reformed churches to establish schools in areas where there is no school to which Reformed parents can send their children.
Four or five times a year we host a Membership Meeting. This is a time when school board members are able to meet with colleagues from other Reformed school societies to hear about the activities of the LCRSS. Membership meetings also provide a space for board members to ask questions, share items of interest, and speak about best practices.
The LCRSS exists because Reformed Christians had a desire to assist each other in the establishment and maintenance of schools with a Reformed Christian philosophy. This desire, which still animates the LCRSS today, was reflected in the very first LCRSS meeting: on September 11, 1965, delegates from four different Canadian Reformed school societies met to explore ways they could be a hand and a foot to each other, even though only two of the societies were actually operating schools at the time. Since then, LCRSS member schools have endeavoured to maintain the goal of not only helping existing schools maintain a Reformed identity in their curriculum, staffing and policies, but they have also been involved in providing support for Canadian Reformed communities who wish to establish new Reformed Christian schools.
Understanding that Reformed Christian schools need to be Reformed in more than just name, we have also established committees and organizations to help develop and maintain a robust Reformed philosophy of education and teacher training. It was through the work of the LCRSS member schools that Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College was established to train teachers the craft of instruction from a Reformed perspective. To support ongoing investment into quality curriculum which is written from a Reformed perspective, we created a curriculum committee. CARE (Curriculum Assistance for Reformed Educators) has developed a complete program of study for elementary Church History and Bible. CARE has also produced numerous curriculum frameworks which help in–service teachers understand how subjects, like Social Studies and Physical Health and Education, can be taught from a Reformed perspective. The Assisting the Special Child committee was established to help parents and schools understand the needs of children with learning disabilities and other educational challenges.
In addition to these educational aids, we have established committees to help with the organizational and administrative aspects of running a Reformed Christian school. The tasks of these committees include: setting a standard salary grid and compensation package, establishing and monitoring a pension and health benefits program, maintaining contact with government organizations, recommending and promoting professional development for teachers, and providing a process by which a school’s operations can be measured and improved through a formal school review.
To help with the organization and coordination of the activities of these committees the LCRSS hired one full-time staff member in the summer of 2015 with the title “League Coordinator”. The task of the League Coordinator is to assist the various committees in their respective functions, to work with our Member Schools toward sharing a common curriculum, and to establish and maintain an organizational presence for the LCRSS in the public square.
The Lord has used our organization for over 50 years to provide growth and support for schools affiliated with the Canadian Reformed Churches. We pray with confidence that He will continue to do so in the years ahead.
The LCRSS is governed by a Board of Directors who are members of an LCRSS Member School and of a Canadian Reformed Church (or of a Church which has ecclesiastical fellowship with the Canadian Reformed Church).
The Directors serve as liaisons to each of the LCRSS Committees to present the interests and actions of the Committees to the Board and vice versa.
The LCRSS Directors meet five times/year to review the work of the Committees and the Coordinator, to review the financial decisions and position of the organization, and to prepare for LCRSS Membership Meetings.
Current Directors:
Chair – Kevin Hutchinson
Vice-Chair – Vacant
Secretary – Sharon Van Sydenborgh
Treasurer – Elaine Prinzen
Director – Roy Hummel
Director – Dianne Westrik
Director – Henrietta VanderLaan
Understanding that Reformed Christian schools need to be Reformed in more than just name, the LCRSS has also established committees to help develop and maintain a robust Reformed educational philosophy and to assist with the organizational and administrative aspects of running a school.
Assistance to the Special Child Committee
This Committee researches and assists parents and staff of LCRSS Member schools in the preparation of programs for the benefit of children with exceptionalities.
The Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee advises the Board of Directors of the LCRSS on matters related to compensation, accreditation, and personnel policies. The Credentials Committee and the Health and Pension Plan Committee are sub-committees of the Compensation Committee.
Contact the Compensation Committee
Credentials Committee
The Credentials Committee is a sub-committee of the Compensation Committee that is activated from time to time, at the request of the LCRSS Directors or the Compensation Committee, to review and update the credentials used to define the compensation categories in the compensation report. The Credentials Committee may also investigate any additional salary grid categories as requested.
Contact the Credentials Committee
Health Benefits and Pension Committee
The Health Benefits and Pension Committee is a sub-committee of the Compensation Committee that reviews and audits the Health Benefits and Pension plan obtained through the LCRSS for the benefit of the staff of LCRSS Member schools.
Contact the Health Benefits and Pension Committee
Curriculum Assistance for Reformed Education
The Curriculum Assistance to Reformed Education (CARE) Committee structures curriculum development and refinement, publishes the results of its work, and monitors the practical suitability of its work in the classroom for LCRSS Member schools.
Government Contact Committee
The Government Contact Committee monitors changes to law and policy in the province that would have an impact on LCRSS Member schools, increases awareness and understanding of government requirements related to policies for LCRSS Member schools, and acts as a sounding board for reports about changes and news that need to be highlighted for schools.
Contact the Government Contact Committee
Professional Development Committee
The Professional Development Committee reviews, recommends, and promotes formal and informal methods for in-service professional development of teachers, EAs and TAs, and (vice-)principals of the LCRSS.
Contact the Professional Development Committee
School Review Committee
The School Review Committee monitors and reviews all aspects of the external school review program of the LCRSS.
The League Coordinator (LC) serves the League of Canadian Reformed School Societies (LCRSS) by coordinating the work of the Directors and committees, managing and/or supporting LCRSS projects, and assisting LCRSS members.
The work of the LC is managed by the Directors, and the LC reports to the Human Resources Committee (HRC), the Directors, and the Membership. The performance of the LC is reviewed on an annual basis by the HRC on behalf of the Directors and membership. This review includes input from the Directors, committee chairs, and membership.
John Wynia is the current League Coordinator. John was born in Hamilton, Ontario, but most of his childhood years were spent in Calgary, Alberta. He was homeschooled for most of his elementary education. As a teenager he lived in Wyoming, Ontario, and he attended Providence Reformed Collegiate. John studied History and English at Redeemer University College, in Ancaster, where he also completed his Bachelor of Education degree. He graduated in 2008 and took his first teaching position at Coaldale Christian School in Coaldale, Alberta. From 2011 to 2018, John taught at Hope Reformed Christian School in Paris, Ontario, serving as high school vice-principal, guidance counsellor, and athletics coordinator. In August of 2018, he stepped out of the classroom to take on the role of League Coordinator for the League of Canadian Reformed School Societies. In all aspects of his work in the realm of education, John is passionate about developing and applying a thoroughly Biblical world- and life-view.
Together with his wife, Kathleen, and their five children, John lives in Brantford, Ontario. They are members of Living Water Reformed Church (URC) in Brantford.
